Northern Ireland Wedding Planning in a lockdown
Contents
Wedding planning during lockdown
Is there any point starting now?
What wedding planning can you do from the safety & comfort of your own home?
Set your wedding budget
Figure out a rough guestlist
Go on a virtual tour of your favourite venues
Type of ceremony
Start wedding dress shopping
Wedding photography, videography, stationary & florists
Don’t become a ghost
Avoid statements like ‘affordable’
No need to panic
Wedding planning during lockdown
2020 has been a horrible year for couples who were hoping to get married. During the early weeks of lockdown in Northern Ireland all weddings were stopped & even once weddings got going again they had changed dramatically. Gone were the big weddings with awesome live music & dancing into the small hours. The weddings as we knew them were replaced & a new rule book came into effect. While a few couples embraced the changes & rolled with the punches others delayed their weddings to 2021. Sadly the New Year isn’t getting off to the start we hoped. With tighter restrictions on numbers & no receptions in Northern Ireland for at least Jan 2021, more couples are opting to delay. So what does this mean when the lockdown eases & when wedding get going again? It means it’s going to be busy, it means there will be high demand and that vendors will be maxed out. So with that in mind is there any point trying to start planning during a lockdown or is it pointless & you’re better off waiting until non essential retail reopens.
Is there any point starting now?
If you’ve just got engaged & you are wondering whether there is any point wedding planning during a lockdown, the simple answer is yes, start now. As soon as wedding get the green light again vendors are going to be busier than they have ever been before but right now they are quiet. Right now they have the time to chat & they will be delighted to hear from you.
What wedding planing can you do from the safety & comfort of your own home?
When you think about wedding planning it’s easy to think ‘I can’t do any of that during lockdown’ but there is actually lots that you can do, in fact there is very little that you can’t do!
Set your wedding budget
This might not be the most glamorous bit of wedding planing but it is essential. You need to sit down & figure out your finances. How much money do you realistically have to spend on you wedding day. Once you have a figure you can then start to allocate budgets to the various elements. This can be a tricky task when you’re just starting as chances are you have no idea on how much things cost. You might have an idea of how much you want to spend on your wedding flowers or your wedding dress but you’ll not know until you start engaging with vendors whether your budget is realistic. What you can do at this stage is prioritise aspects of your wedding. Is having an amazing venues really important to you or would you happily get married in a muddy field being over locked by herd of cows? Would you rather skip on wedding flowers & have an open bar for all your guests to enjoy? Would you prefer to save money on food & spend extra on your dress & photography? Figure out our priorities & research these bits first.
Figure out a rough guestlist
It’s important to figure out a rough guest list early. There’s no point wasting time looking at a venue that as a minimum capacity of 80 guests if you only want to invite 40 & equally you don’t want to fall in love with a stunning intimate venue that can accommodate 30 people if you have a guest list of 50+. Your guest list will also play an important role in your budget. Some venues will price per head while others will price for the room/suite. It’s important to understand how the size of your guest list will or won’t impact upon your overall cost.
Go on a virtual tour of your favourite venues
Wedding venues are an important starting point, until you have a wedding date secured it’s hard to plan anything with other vendors. Picking a wedding venue is a bit like buying a house, you can look online at photos but you can’t really tell whether it’s the perfect house for you until you’ve been for a physical viewing. So what’s the point starting if you can’t see a venue in lockdown? You might not be able to go to see a venue at present but what you can do is really start to narrow down your search. You could search by venue type (rustic barn, elegant hotel, wild & romantic), you could search by size (intimate, large, small) or you could search by location (Belfast, near the Mournes, North Coast). Once you have narrowed it down to a few venues pick up the phone & give them a call. I know it’s tempting to just fire off an email but I can’t stress enough how picking up the phone is more beneficial for everyone. Give the venue a call & ask about their availability & price. Ask about scheduling a Zoom meeting with them so you can sit down & have a proper chat together. You can get a feel for how it all works, do they provide catering or is this out sourced, is there a minimum number of guests? Can you hold any type of ceremony are dogs allowed, is there somewhere suitable near by for wedding photos, do they have a wet weather alternative? Once you’ve got an idea of the basics ask if they can take you on a virtual tour. Best case they walk you round their propriety on zoom & chat as they go or they might even have a professionally made video that shows their venue off in detail. Obviously it’s not the same as being their & getting a physical feel for the venue but it will help you narrow your search. If you love what you see ask about getting booked in for a viewing as soon as restrictions permit. Be realistic with the venues & consider getting a mid week viewing. If you get in their diaries now there is a better chance of you securing a date you’d like than if you hold off. If you’re super organised you might be able to see a venues on one day.
Type of ceremony
Talk to your partner about the type of ceremony you’d like to have. Some couples honestly don’t care who marries them as long as they are legally married by the end of it. While others want a really personal & unique feel to their ceremony. Now’s a good time to figure out which you think you’d like & then research your options. If you don’t mind who marries you, you’ll have more options than if you want a personalised ceremony. If you’re hoping to have your ceremony & reception at the same venue it’s worth asking if they have any recommends. Reach out to celebrants & start conversations with them, get an idea of availability, price & ultimately whether you think they’re a good fit for your wedding.
Start wedding dress shopping
Wedding dresses take time, a lot more time than most brides appreciate! Wedding dresses take on average 6 months from the point of order to arriving at the bridal store, then they need to be fitted and this might take a few appointments to get the perfect finish. This all takes time and you need to factor this into your wedding timeline. If you want to get married quickly don’t panic there are other options but in general you need to allow plenty of time to pick & order your dress. So what can you do when the bridal stores are all closed. A great starting point would be to check out Archive 12 in Belfast. Claire from Archive 12 has the most amazing wedding dresses from a handful of stunning designers that are exclusive to her in Northern Ireland & the best of it is, Claire is doing virtual appointments so you don’t have to wait. Claire is so passionate about what she does & has so much knowledge that I honestly can’t think of a better place to start. She’ll be able to help you get an idea of the styles that would suit you & the feel your going for & she could arrange to have a small number of dresses delivered to your house to try on! Alternatively if you’re looking for a more traditional dress or want to support your local bridal store, reach out to them. If they aren’t taking calls try dropping an email or a message on social media & get chatting. Your local bridal store will be quickly able to let you know about the designers & styles of dresses they have in store for the new season & also give you an idea on price. You can then go away & research the designers & get a feel for the type of dresses that you might like. The lovely thing about small independent bridal boutiques is that they tend to all have a slightly different feel which will help you narrow down shops that have what you think you’re after & ones that don’t really fit your taste. Once you think you’ve found a shop you like get a date in their diary to go for a fitting. When close contact services reopen there will be a massive demand so don’t miss out on getting an apportionment by waiting until they reopen. If you’re hoping to have a big bridal party it’s tempting to wait to have all your girls at your appointment but who knows when that will be achievable so embrace modern technology & set up a Zoom meeting. That way you can be at tour fitting & your bridal party can enjoy a cup a tea on their own sofas & still be involved in your decision making process.
Wedding photography, videography, stationary & florists
If you have a date or a rough idea of when you’re hoping to get married reach out to the other vendors using your own priority list as a guide. If photography is super important to you start there while if you’ve been obsessed with a florist on Instagram for years & dream of having them do your wedding start there. You don’t need to tackle this in a set order, just find an order that works for you. Once you’ve decided where to start reach out to vendors via their contact forms & arrange a phone call. I know that emailing or text messages are quicker & not so scary! But it’s amazing how much more you can get out of a conversation than a string of emails. A phone call allows you to get a feel for the supplier as a person, whether they share your vision & whether you think you’d work well with them. A lot of your wedding planning involves a degree of team work so find vendors that you find it easy to communicate with, vendors who understand what you’re after & are excited about your plans. Your wedding is unique & it deserves to be treated as such, it should never feel like ‘just another wedding’ and you should never feel like you’re ‘just another couple’. When you do reach out to potential vendors ask if they have more samples of their work. Think of websites like their shop front, they only hold a limited sample of what they have to offer. They might have some hidden gems waiting to be discovered inside or you might just find that they have an awesome shop window & then are somewhat lacking. Ask to see more examples or ask for physical samples of things like wedding stationary.
Don’t become a ghost
If you are reaching out to vendors be that a florist, a venue or a celebrant keep them informed as to your progress. Most vendors won’t even pencil you in for a date unless you’ve paid a deposit & that is simply because of people changing their minds & neglecting to advice the vendor. With that in mind, if you are chatting to two florists & pick to go with one, let them both know. You don’t need to make up an excuse or justify your decision, just send a quick email thanking them for their time & advising them that you’ve gone with someone else. No one likes to get ghosted so please don’t ghost small business owners. It takes two seconds to send a thanks but no thanks email.
Avoid statements like ‘affordable’
Also if you opt to reach out for recommendations in social media groups please don’t use phrases like ‘affordable’ or ‘won’t cost a fortune’. Phrases like these don’t actually help you as they are too vague. Your idea of ‘affordable’ could be entirely different to another brides idea. You might think that spending £1000 on wedding flowers is reasonable while another mind have a budget of £200. Equally you might think that wedding photography over a £1500 costs a fortune while another couple might feel that anything under £3000 is reasonable. Rather than leaving it vague & getting lots of pointless recommendations put in a monetary value. Treat it like you would if you were looking for a house online, put in a bracket of how much you’re willing to spend or put in an upper limit. This will save you from wading through dozens or hundreds of recommendations which might be way off your budget. It’s makes your life easier for you.
No need to panic!
Finally I hope you’ve found this useful & don’t for one second feel panicked and that you need to suddenly rush out & start booking things or you’ll miss out. That’s not the case at all. There is no need to panic buy. All I’m saying is that while you are at home more than normal use the time to your advantage & make the most out of the vendors being quiet before the craziness begins.
Check out my blog for more useful information on wedding planning, the best intimate wedding venues in Northern Ireland, what to do if you’re feeling overwhelmed & how to stop your guest list running away from you.